Mountains-to-Sea Trail segment completed
A ceremony will be held Wednesday, Oct. 3, to celebrate the completion of a 300-mile connection on the Mountains-to-Sea State Trail in North Carolina.
State trails staff, the Carolina Mountain Club, Friends of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail, and other volunteers and supporters recently completed a linchpin eight-mile section of the trail near the Blue Ridge Parkway in Swain County. That segment completes a continuous footpath from Clingmans Dome to Stone Mountain State Park in the Sauratown Mountains.
The event will be held at 2 p.m. at Great Smoky Mountain National Park’s Oconaluftee Visitor Center in Cherokee.
Development and construction of this trail section included negotiating difficult terrain east of the Smokies, working around the tunneled sections of the Blue Ridge Parkway, and through the Qualla Boundary lands of the Eastern Band of Cherokee. In 2016, the Eastern Band of Cherokee agreed to host a section of the trail through reservation lands, enabling the connector trail’s completion.
In June of this year, the North Carolina Division of Parks and Recreation, the National Park Service’s Blue Ridge Parkway, and the Carolina Mountain Club collaborated to complete the final section of this connection.
“This final stretch of trail fulfilled a decades-long goal for those working on the Mountains-to-Sea State Trail,” said Susi H. Hamilton, secretary of the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. “Thanks to the hard work of staff, supporters, and volunteers, this section now offers 300 continuous miles to explore. We are so proud and appreciative of their tireless work for North Carolinians venturing out from their hometowns and visitors who have come to explore our beautiful state.”
The Mountains-to-Sea State Trail is the state’s flagship trail, a long-distance trail for hiking and backpacking that runs from the Great Smoky Mountains to the Outer Banks.
For more information, call (919) 807-7300 or visit the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources website.